Myst TV series adaptation in development

If you read the headline above and actually got excited, then congratulations! You’re old! Yes Myst, that old game series from the early 1990s that had you breaking your brain trying to figure out obscure puzzles, is coming to the TV screen. Deadline broke the news, revealing that production studio Village Roadshow is in early development of a TV series adaptation of the classic video game series, with Thor and X-Men: First Class scribe Ashley Edward Miller tapped as showrunner.

For the young’uns in the audience, the first Myst game was released back in the Dark Ages of 1993. Created by brothers Robyn and Rand Miller (no relation to the new showrunner) and published by big time studio at the time Broderbund Software (now defunct, sadly), the games saw players take on the role of an unnamed character who finds an unusual book called Myst which speaks of the titular magical land. It’s more than just a book though, as it transports the player to this land of Myst, an island covered in strange puzzles and architecture. It’s here where the player learns of the D’ni civilization, who were able to create these magical “linking books” that were able to transport readers to the various worlds they described.

Although it played out in first-person, there was no real action. Instead, Myst was all about more slower-paced exploration and using your mental faculties to solve puzzles. The player gets involved in a feud between Sirrus and Achenar, two brothers who have been trapped in these books, both offering up contradicting stories as to how they got there and their involvement in the death of their father, Atrus, the previous inhabitant of Myst island.

With a very strong narrative and some incredible puzzle design, Myst was a huge critical and commercial hit, selling more than six million copies. In fact, until overtaken by The Sims in 2002, it had been the best-selling PC game of all time. The first game spawned a multimedia franchise that consisted of three direct sequel video games, a spinoff video game, three novels, and a pencil-and-paper role-playing game. The video games together have sold over 12 million copies and were viewed as a rather large proponent in the push for the usage of CD-ROMs (which Myst needed for all its graphics) in computers at the time.

Back in 2014, Legendary Entertainment actually announced that they were developing a live-action Myst TV series for Hulu, but nothing came of it at the time. Just like back then, the Miller brothers will be involved in this latest iteration with Rand Miller co-producing. Village Roadshow has apparently been developing this new take for more than a year already, so this may move reasonably quickly from here on out (COVID-19 dependent, of course).

Last Updated: April 20, 2020